The buzzer went off as I rushed right inside the maze. The black maze had various small compartments and squarish blocks for taking cover or hiding. I was dressed in a black jumpsuit to help me blend in with the environment.
The first block had three traps set. First the crossbows. There are four sets of automatic crossbows hidden here. Two of them release the bows at almost an angle of 45°. I'm not sure if it's 45° or not. I've just named it that to sound like an anime protagonist. Okay so the first two attack with a 30 seconds interval. The other two have sensors in them so they can locate my body but it takes them about 7 or 8 seconds to attack after they sense somebody.
I sneakily moved along the walls to blend in. I made sure Abel couldn't detect my smell because I made every trainee wear it before training. A little disgusting but I have to survive this.
I cleared the first two crossbows and started moving randomly to not let the sensors pinpoint me. As I moved around I accidentally made a small squeak noise with my feet. After staying up all night, that's the mistake I made. Bravo, Ali, bravo.
Someone pushed me as I hit my back against the wall. My eyes met his deeply green eyes as a sly smile came on his lips.
"It's getting boring, Stilinski." Abel said and I nodded.
"It's going to be entertaining though." I said and he looked at me confused but before he realised I held him by his collar and whoosh. Four arrows right in his back.
"What the-'' He said as he lost his balance and fell to the floor. I sat down next to him.
"I changed the fake ones with the real ones last night." I stood up.
"You… think this - can hurt me." He said sweating and grunting on the floor.
"Sharp edged arrows? No. Sharp edged arrows laced with wolfsbane? Well.. I can see the result." I smiled sweetly at him.
He just let out a chuckle and rested his cheek against the floor. The weird part about Abel is that I've never seen his wolf eyes. He doesn't activate it for some reason. It will help him hugely right now but I guess he doesn't want to. I would stay to see if that can happen but I can't because I'm running out of time.
The next portions of the first areas were easy to cross because Lisa and Abel had divided the two parts of the course and since I made sure Abel wouldn't be able to get up for some time I easily passed through the land mines buzzers. I've passed them multiple times by now so I'm very much familiar with which tiles I should step on and which ones to avoid. The third obstacle was strings. This one is pretty hard because how closely tied the strings are, I have to pass by without touching any string. I'm not yet a parkour expert so it's hard but since no one's chasing me I can do this calmly.
I could do it calmly but I have anxiety and I almost messed it up multiple times. Thankfully I was able to clear that too. Now the second part. The second part doesn't have any traps. The only hurdle is Lisa. She's good. Lisa is the best Protector they have, she's the same age as me and is already leading a team. Usually the leader is in their twenties but apparently she has the brains and the brute force to handle the leader sort of situations.
I sneakily made my way through the maze keeping an eye out for Lisa when I heard a whistle. "Bubba." She called up as I looked at her standing on one of the walls holding her bow stretched towards me. She released the arrow and I dodged it quickly. I'm not making the same mistake again.
I need to get closer to her in order to get my plan done but she's good at long range combat so it won't be easy. Like I said I'm not a parkour genius yet so I can't reach her. That means I have to have her come to me.
That's only possible… I started running away from her and she started following me of course it didn't take her long to catch up and as she closed into a range from where she could attack me, I tripped and fell. I cried in pain and as I thought she couldn't hold herself back and rushed towards me.
"You okay, Ali?" She asked as she reached me.
That was my chance. I took out a small amount of brown dust from my pocket and poofed it all in her face.
Okay so, remember Mason. The emissary for the Hale family. Well, he and I have become a bit closer, close enough for me to sneak out some sort of brown dust from his office. It's something that attacks a person's nerves and numbs their mind for some time. But you have to be careful with the amount which I was. Like mountain ash this dust also works with magic. I can't remember, it was some French word, fallible something? I don't know for sure but it should do the trick and it did. She stepped back and dropped her bow. I got up and helped her as I carefully placed her back against the wall.
"What—hell– Ali?" She said as her eyes slowly were closing.
"Sorry?" I said as I stepped away and made my way towards the finish line before I could reach the end Abel jumped in front of me.
"What the fu-" I cussed out in a whisper.
He can't heal that quickly from wolf's bane. That's not possible.
"Heading somewhere?" He asked as he stepped towards me.
I don't have anymore brown dust because I only brought the minimum amount so that I don't end up hurting Lisa. I guess it's going to be combat now. I don't have a weapon right now.
"Got you, Stilinski." He said and I took a step back.
No. I DON'T WANT TO RUN THIS COURSE AGAIN. I'll go insane if I have to do this again. Wait.. Wait.. Wait… there was a third vial.
I put it in my trousers pocket right? I don't know. I should have. But if I did, which one was it? Abel took a step towards me. Oh hell! It's a run or die situation.
I quickly reached into my right pocket. Damn! It wasn't there. I reached inside my other pocket but before I could push my hand in, Abel reached me and held both my hands.
"Abel, I've told you I hate you, right?" I said and he looked at me confused. "I want you to keep that in mind. This is not because I hate you."
"What's-"
Before he could complete his sentence I kicked him right where it hurts the most. He stepped back in pain. His grip got loose and I pushed back. I reached in my pocket and took out the vial of wolf's bane. I smashed it against his face and in the process of hurting him I also got some glass shards into my fingers.
I rushed past him and reached the finish line. The buzzer finally went off and the round ended.
You know what they say 56th
time's the charm.
_
After three whole days I finally did it but this guy can't digest it.
"It's not fair." Abel argued. "She could've seriously hurt us seriously."
Chief looked behind his shoulder where Lisa was lying on the couch. She has a bad headache as a side effect of that dust.
"Do you feel the same?" Chief Naveed asked.
"Nope." She groaned as she sat up. "We didn't give her any rules and it was unfair to her to begin with."
Abel turned to her with glaring daggers.
"Oh please. You're just pissed cuz she endangered your children." Lisa said as she looked at Abel. "She doesn't have any powers or any former training. She was supposed to survive that course. For both of us that small course is a piece of cake. She's just a civilian and if she's being pursued by a werewolf and a weirdo with a bow and arrow. I think it's fair to play dirty. " She turned her head to me and gave me a thumbs up." You did good."
Abel didn't seem pleased with it but he didn't say anything.
"And anyways…" Lisa stood up. "This actually showed that Ali can study her environment and adapt accordingly to it. With good training she'll be good as a strategist." Lisa tried to pick her backpack but seeing her struggle Abel picked it up for her.
"Come on. I'll take you to your room." Abel said as he helped her towards the door. Lisa slightly turned her head and said,
"She passed, chief."
_
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